I consumed Barry Jenkins’ 10-part limited series adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad over the course of a weekend because, basically, I couldn’t stop.
It was extraordinary storytelling and filmmaking, if harrowing in its uncompromising depiction of slavery. Whitehead followed that book up with The Nickel Boys in 2019, and like Underground Railroad, won a Pulitzer Prize for it.
Based on this, I looked forward to the film version, its title shortened to simply Nickel Boys, especially since it also came from Plan B., producers of The Underground Railroad and Oscar-winning Best Pictures 12 Years A Slave and Moonlight.
As it turns out, shortening the title wasn’t the only change in the RaMell Ross screen version that just had its world premiere this weekend at the Telluride Film Festival and will also be opening the New York Film Festival.
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